While slowly and carefully picking my way through a cluster of anomalies, I'm startled to have one suddenly burst into a spray of blood just beside me: an invisible bloodsucker I hadn't detected had lunged for me, stepping into a gravity field I avoided but it did not. To a stalker, newbies and veterans alike, every stash, no matter how meagre, is like Christmas Day.Įven travelling in places I'm completely familiar with is no cause for confidence or cockiness, due to the random nature of the stalker and monster encounters that drizzle the game with unscripted surprises. And isn't that the best part of any RPG? The early days, when every rubbish bin holds a treasure? Here, that feeling never goes away. A few crusts of bread, an extra bandage and some anti-radiation meds make a gruesome firefight worth the effort, because no matter how long you've been playing, no matter what gear you've amassed, these few items can mean the difference between life and death. Any time I can collect a few bullets without expending some of my own is a big win.įew games have made looting as essential as SoC. Plus, after a fight there will be bodies to loot, bodies I did not have to personally slay. It means that whatever is lurking out here, be it man or mutant, has blessedly decided to attack someone else. It's the only sound I run directly toward, rather than crouch in fear of. So dangerous and inhospitable is the Zone, the only welcome sound is that of distant gunfire. Their wariness informs you of their own feelings of dread and distrust: walk up to another stalker with your weapon out and he'll bark a warning in Russian, and then translate it by sticking the barrel of his own gun in your face.

Their general lack of interest in you serves as a reminder that you're no grand hero, no saviour of the Zone, but just another random scavenger who is not to be trusted.

While other stalkers don't have much in the way of personalities – I could give you the names of a few, but no real descriptions – they're still an important part of the atmosphere.

Stalker noise of the zone